Solitaire City (Deluxe) in Review – A Very Comprehensive Game

Solitaire is very much a classic that on every platform and there are at least a million different implementations by a million different developers of the game. I mean, seriously, every time a new platform debuts that allows a public SDK, a version of Solitaire is bound to appear within a month, if not sooner. If there isn’t a public SDK, the developer of the platform will make a version themselves.

However, this version is the first I’ve played on the OS X iPhone platform, and I think this is one of the best versions I’ve played, regardless of platform.

App Description

The award winning Solitaire City collection is now available for iPhone and iPod Touch. Compete against player’s from all around the world via Wi-Fi or cellular networks and see your name and scores in lights on real-time, daily, weekly and champions hi-score tables that are automatically synchronized with a central server.

One of the first reasons I think Solitaire City is one of the best versions of Solitaire I’ve played is purely because of the touch controls. On other platforms (Windows, Mac, Palm, Sony Ericsson, whatever), it requires control via buttons, mouse, pointers, or a stylus. Although it’s not a big thing, it just doesn’t come close to real cards. However, with touch controls on the iPhone, it’s completely natural, coming closer to the feeling of playing actual cards, but without the bother of shuffling, dealing and those snooty looks from your opponent (that is if you play SOLOtaire with an opponent).

Solitaire City is a comprehensive solitaire game with 15 game modes and an average of 3 or 4 different rulesets for each game. It’s quite like having 60 games in one which makes it feel a better value. Although gameplay is typically solitaire, the different rules and different methods of gameplay, replay value is very high. There is also a helpful training mode and online leaderboards to help serve deal up that competitive spirit within each player!

Also, in addition to the potential for replaying, I think the game design is very well thought-out. Solitaire City allows for both portrait and landscape gameplay in any mode of play. This is a great feature because it allows users to play one-handed in portrait-mode whilst in tight spots like the train/ bus, and two-handed whilst sitting down at their leisure. The background music and sound effects are also very well integrated; it’s entertaining enough to not be irritating, a very common mistake with these types of games. The colour scheme too, is not garish: it is just right for a good night of solo solitaire.

Now, onto my final opinions of the Solitaire City. At $7.99, it is quite expensive, however, the fit and finish of the game are very good and along with graphics, sound and overall quality of play are phenomenal. Details such as the training mode, online score board, layout orientation, size of cards, controls are of great quality, which makes me very much interested in playing the game (I honestly haven’t played Solitaire in a long, long time). However, given that there is a lite version, my opinion is that unless you really love this game, go for the lite version first.